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Vita
Orlando Sinopoli |
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Vita
Orlando Sinopoli, housewife and freelance writer, wrote
for the Post-Gazette intermittently between 1989 and
1995. At that time, she was invited by Dr. Joseph
Marcantonio to write some articles that appeared in his
column entitled "Remembering the North End." Her recent
column, "Recipes from the Homeland," has appeared in the
Post-Gazette since 1999.
Vita's parents, Pietro (Peter) and Lucia
(Lucy) Orlando had immigrated to America in different
years from Sicily, Italy. They met and married in
Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Both became Naturalized United
States citizens. In the early years, her father worked
for J. A. Padula, an Italian bread bakery, as a baker
and deliveryman.
Vita was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
In 1927, she moved with her parents and brother Peter
from Fitchburg to Boston where her parents |
began operating
their own bread bakery business on
Charter Street. She attended Boston schools, graduating
from Girls' High School in 1942. She graduated from
Boston Clerical School in 1945 and went to work for
Wilbur & Williams Paint Co. in Boston, first as
clerk/typist and then as secretary. In l949, she married
her husband, William J. Sinopoli, at St. Stephen's
Church in Boston.
In 1950, the Orlando family opened a
bakery and luncheonette on Mystic Avenue in Somerville.
Vita was the chef in the luncheonette for cooked meals
and she also helped to prepare sandwiches and serve
customers.
After the luncheonette closed in 1952,
Vita continued working part time in the bakery during
which time she had two girls, Vita Marie and Donna.
After their son William was born in 1957, she retired
from the bakery.
In 1958, the family moved to Wilmington,
Massachusetts. Vita returned to work as a temporary
typist/clerk in l962 until she became a secretary for
the Wilmington Public School System in l964. In 1983,
Vita and her husband William retired and moved to
Dennis, Massachusetts.
In l990, Vita's desire to continue
writing influenced her into attending a Cape Cod
Community College creative writing course. In addition
to the Post-Gazette, she has been published in Boston's
North End Magazine; Cape Cod Times' Reader's Page, and
their Prime Time Magazine; Good Old Days Magazine; Green
Mountain Trading Post, Vermont; Regional Review, Boston;
and Women's Press, Toronto, Canada.
Vita has received the following awards:
First place winner of a 1995 Prime Time Magazine's
Legacies Contest; 1996 Honorable Mentions Award from
National Legacies Contest, NY; Third place winner - l999
National League of American Pen Women's non-fiction
biennial contest.
Vita is a member of the National League
of American Pen Women, Inc. - Cape Cod Writers' Center,
Inc. Twelve O'clock Scholars. |
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